A Churchillian and Benthamite Defense of Democracy

In this Article, I am going to defend democracy against those Cassandras who are pessimistic, even in a comparative sense, about its capabilities and worth. I expect that many of those pessimists about democracy will think me something of a Pollyanna, all too inclined to see the world through rose-colored spectacles that transmogrify what the Cassandras perceive as the three-quarters empty glass into what I claim is a three-quarters full one. So, let me be blunt right from the start. Mine will be a least-bad or Churchillian defense of democracy, one that readily concedes that democratic decision-making has its flaws and faults—and a good deal more in some jurisdictions than in others—but that still insists that it beats any and all alternatives.